JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF UYO
P.M.B. 1017, UYO
AKWA IBOM STATE NIGERIA
ISSN 1119-9709
VOL. IV. NO.1
2003
Editor-in-Chief
Prof. P.E.C. Onwurah
AUGUS,
University of Uyo
Editor
Dr. Onah Augustine Odey
Editorial Board
Ven. Canon (Dr. ) S.N. Adiele
Ven. Canon (Dr) E.A. Ahirika
Sr. Dr. Anthonia M. Essien.
Chairman
THE STATE OF CHRISTIAN PROPHECY IN
YORUBALAND TODAY
BY
PIUS OYENIRAN ABIOJE
DEPTOF RELIGIONS,
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN
Questions begin to arise. Is Christian prophecy, for
instance, limited to biblical times, or is it an ever relevant
reality? It would appear that not many persons are
convinced today, when the-y see someone tag
himself/herself a prophet/prophetess. In the Catholic
Church, it is said that every baptized Christian shares in
varying degrees in the royal, priestly, and prophetic offices
of the Lord Jesus Christ. One has to admit that every office
implies a responsibility, a challenge. Is it enough to say
someone is a prophet because she/he preaches the word of
god? This study aims at throwing some light on the meaning
and positive use of prophecy, as well as touching o n the
prophetic situation in contemporary Yoruba society. Ex/en
though Catholic examples may appear significant in this
paper there is hardly any doubt that the fundamentals wouId
apply to most churches in Yorubaland. The article opens
with an initial look into what prophecy means in both the Old
and the New Testaments.
Prophecy in the Old and the New Testaments.
The injunction to be holy as the Lord your God is holy (Lev.
11:44 & 45) was often forgotten, neglected, and violated by
the Israelites. The prophet was the one who confronted the
people collectively and individually to warn them of
the consequences of abandoning the covenant with Yahweh,
and living unholy or sinful lives. In the of Richard
McBrien (1994:260), "Theprophet is one who, literally, is called
to speak on behalf of another, in this case on behalf of God
(Hebrew, nabi)." The authentic biblical prophet is not a
fortune or future teller as an oracle or a clairvoyant, except
that in interpreting events, he could predict some
consequences of one form of action or another, and of a
failure to act. As E. B. Gbonigi of the Anglican Communion,
Akure, in a special interview observes: We have to tell the
mind of God. That is what prophecy really means. It is not
telling what will happen in future. That is not the most
important aspect of prophecy. The most important is
declaring the will of God. (Tell Magazine
No.
21,
May 25, 1998:190).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994:47) also teaches
that "Through the prophets, God forms his people in the
hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and
everlasting covenant intended for all, to be written in their
hearts."
The foregoings imply that the prophetic relevance cannot
be limited to the Old Testament. Indeed it can be said that the
New Testament's prophetic connection is established, since
the Lord Jesus has not come to abolish the law and the
prophets, but fulfil them (Mt. 5:17). Dianne Bergant (1996:811)
observes that "the early Christians took great pains to show
that most of the major prophetic traditions of Israel were
brought to completion in Jesus." Beyond that, the Lord Jesus
himself identified as a prophet (Lk. 24:19). One would think it
is in that light that the Fathers of the Second Vatican C
(Lumen Gentium no. 31) teach that all validly baptised
Christians participate in one way or another in the priestly
prophetic and office of Christ.
With regard to the early Church, Bergant (1996:811)
notes that prophecy performed the function of teaching
Ancient Israelite tradition, according to Bergant, was
interpreted "in light of the event of Christ and utterances were
considered prophetic if they showed an understanding of the
mysteries of that event" (1 Cor. 13:2). Continuing, he states
that early Christian prophecy "focused more on understanding
Christ than on dealing with broader social reality". That
"served to establish a firm Christian identity so that the
challenge of a changing world might be met with a steadfast
commitment to the essence of the religious tradition",
concludes Bergent. But the number of persons clamouring
for a broader use of prophecy seems to be growing. It is felt
in certain theological quarters, particularly among liberation
theologians, that the church should look beyond herself and
contribute to socio-political and economic justice. Paul
Gifford (1990:23f), For instance, writes that "The incarnation
means that God involved himself with our world; a Christian
today should imitate this involvement." Moreover, in the
words of Gifford,
In history there have always been
Christians who retreated from the
world, turned in on themselves,
formed a ghetto. They saw that their only
duty to the world was to convert others
or to bring others from the world into
the church. The church thus because
an
alternative
society.
It
was
supposedly found, that God acted.
This turning in on themselves seems to
affect Christians in times of crisis pa
rticularly, and in African today the
crisis is enormous.
It may be that many Christians are misled by such
passages that indicate that Christians are in the world but not
of the world (e.g. John 15:19). One would think, however,
that when the Lord Jesus speaks negatively about the
world, he is referring only to the diabolical elements in the
world, and not the world as created good by God. No
wonder he petitions God the Father to protect his cf isciples
"from the Evil One" (John 17:15). The Second Vatican
Council teaches that "One of the gravest errors of our time
is the dichotomy between the faith which many profess and
the practice of their daily lives." Beyond that, the Council
adds that "The Christian who shirks his temporal duties
shirks his towards his neighbour, neglects God himself, and
endangers his e ternal salvation" (Gaudium et Spes, no.
430). Since many Nigerians, particularly in Yorubaland,
associate prophets with diviners, one would like to discuss
prophets in relation to diviners and discernment.
Diviners, Prophecy and Discernment
There is hardly any doubt that there are sincere
persons who are endowed with divinatory talents, even
though there are many charlatan diviners also who exploit
people, taking money, property, people's wives, and may be
even people's husbands, and reducing their victims to
miserable wretches. At any rate, for Christians, it is
prophets who guide people to do God's will rather than
insisting on knowing the future or attaining fortune by all
means.
In the Bible, even though many Israelites may not
always be comfortable with the prophetic message, they
don't appear to be at ease whenever there is dearth of
prophets. Luke Nnamdi Mbefo (1997:VIII) refers to this
when he writes that:
"One recalls, -the lament of the psalmist: 'We see no signs,
no prophet any mnore, and none of us knows how long it
will last' (Psalm, 74 :Q).' On the other hand, one of the
greatest challenges -facing Christianity in. Yorubaland, is
that of false prophets ma squerading as seers and fortune
tellers, deceiving and exploiting simple but gullible persons, in
the name of Jesus Christ. Hardly any week passes without
one hurried report or another about false prophets ^who
dupe, injure, and even murder their" victims. If one
does not read "How Cele Prophetess Burnt My Fingers"
(Daily Sketch. Friday, March 1, 1996, P. 6), one may read
"Pastor in Police Net Ritual Murder". ("Cele" refers to the
Celestial Church, based mainly in Yorubaland). (Cfr.
The Leader Vol. XLI. No. 1. January 24, 1999, P. 14).
In the understanding of many Yoruba Christians, a
prophet/pro prophetess is one who performs miracles for
healing and for obtaining wealth, in God's name. He/she is
hardly the one who confronts perpetrators of socio-political,
economic and religious injustice and exploitation (as did
the prophets of old, as well as Gani Fawehinmi, Ferni
Falana, Olisa Agbakoba, and so on in General Abacha's
days in Nigeria). Yet, it is difficult to see how a society that
does not confront evil men and women can progress in
peace and plenty.
In Yorubaland, when God does not dance to
the miraculous tune of a self-styled prophet/prophetess.
She/he resorts to deception and all sorts of diabolical
means, in an attempt to convince the audi&nce that God
answers his/her prayers (or commands at times).
Writing about Christian Pentecosta k pastors in Nigeria,
generally, Uzoatu notes: Some claim to command the
Holy Spirit. These fellows insist they can make God
appear and disappear at short notice. The Vintage truism
run thus: If all else fails, try Jah Lord.
And they are indeed trying Jah
Lord with all the guiles and
deceptions at their disposal. (The
Leader Vol. XLI. No, 1, January 24,
1999, Pp. 1&3).
If one ponders a little bit, it may be discovered that
what is happening is that the Yoruba Christian expects from
his religious leader what the traditional Yoruba expects from
the Yoruba traditional diviners-practical solution to
problems. Ironically, however, the Yoruba traditional diviners
and their clients are not usually as desperate as these
Christian counterparts. It is like the Christian spiritual person
must prove that God can and will necessarily solve every
problem.
Consequently, it may be realised that there is hardly
crisis in the traditional setting, compared with the modern day
Christian "prophets" and "prophetess" and the "God must
surely d o it" clients that they have fashioned in Yorubaland.
Otherwise, it would appear that a traditional Yoruba would
visit a divine r, because she/he believes Olorun ko ko aaio God does not object to efforts at finding solution, rather than
on the basis or human ability to command or order God to
action. Indeed, the traditional Yoruba would say: Eni to m'oran
tan di Olodum are - He who knows everything, and can
do everythi ng, becomes God. That means, only God can
know and is able to do everything. And when the Yoruba call
God Aseyi to wuu - one who does what He likes , as the
Psalmist also expresses it (Psalm 115:3) - it means that God
cannot be conditioned or manipulated by any human being.
Thus, every well-cultures Yoruba understands that one may
endeavour, but the final disposition lies with God. There is
no provision that "God will and must surely do it", as one
hears some Christian ministers preach these days. St. Paul
rightly notes that no effort can yield any positive result without
God's blessing (1 Cor. 3:6- 8), and nobody can decide for
God what He will or will not do (Mt. 26:39-44;Mark 1 A: 3539; Luke 22:41).
Most unfortunately, at the same time, it would
appear that a few malevolent Yoruba traditionalists and
Islamic occultists are colluding with their misguided
counterparts in the Christian arena, to heighten criminal acts.
That is what one can deduce from stories linking Christian
pastors, prophets, and prophetesses with ritual murders,
such as the earlier cited. The scenario should send one
back to the Old Testament, where Prophet Jeremiah is
reputed to have outlined the principles for distinguishing
good prophets from the bad ones. In the interpretation by
McBrien, the criteria include: (1) the fulfillment of the word of
the prophet, i.e. what the prophet says will happen,
happens (Jer. 28:9, 32:6-8, Deut. 18:21-22); (2) the
prophecy's fidelity to Yahweh and to the traditional religion
(Jer. 23:13-32), and (3) the often heroic witness of the
prophet himself (1:4-6; 26:12-15).
Another interpretation by John Mckenzie (1978:697)
has it Inter alia
Because he lacks the prophetic
insight into the moral will of
Yahweh and the reality of sin,
the false prophet sees no evil
where it is and prophesies that all
is well when it is not. He easily
identifies Israel and its cause with
Yahweh and his will and predicts
victories; he has no conception
of the sweeping and rigorous
justice
with
which
Yahweh
governs.
As there are good and bad persons, so are there genuine
and false prophets. Godwin (1997:19) observes that
"churches, as well as families, contain people with very real
shortcomings. Dysfunctions inherent within a family
eventually surface in the body of Christ" It all goes to
emphasize that one should watch for discernment all the
time, in dealing even with pastors, prophets and
prophetesses, and a II other persons too.
In Yorubaland, it happens that a Christian may just
wake up one day and announce that she/he has seen a
vision in which God has called him/her to become a
prophet/prophetess, and the person would to function
immediately. The vision is usually in form of a dream. Some
theologians actually think one always take dreams and visions
serious. Herman H. Riffel (1978:75), for instance, writes that:
The language of dreams and visions is
one which God used often to speak
to man. Why, then, have we ignored
this language? Because we have
been
influenced
by
the
Ar ist ot el ian p hi lo s o ph y o f the •
Western world that says knowledge
can be obtained only through the five
senses and reason; all other •
knowledge
is
suspect.
This
philosophy has caused us to
disregard great portions of the
scriptures, including the indirect
language of God speaking through
dreams and visions.
In support of Riffel and theologians who are of identical
persuasion as himself, one may refer to biblical dream and
vision experts, such as Joseph son of Jacob (Gen. 37:5 to
chapter 50) and Prophet Daniel (from the second chapter of
his book to the end). Then, in the New Testament, God
spoke to Joseph in a dream, at least on two occasions (Mat.
1:18-21, 2:13-15), and to the wise men from the East (Mat.
2:12). Nevertheless, one must not overlook the equally
serious biblical objections to dreams and visions. For
instance, in Job 20:8, one reads: "He will fly away like a
dream, and not be found; he will be chased away like a
vision of the night". Other examples indicating vanity of
dreams include Psalm 73:20; Isaiah 29:8, Jer. 23:28, 27:9.
The Yoruba also have some traditional formulas for
interpreting dreams. It is believed, for instance, that if one
sees an elderly person turn to a baby or an infant in a
dream, it means the person has died. Likewise, if a person
is seen in a dream wearing a mask, it is believed that the
omen is that the person has died. The personal experience
of this writer is that sometimes the Yoruba interpretive
works, at other times, it does not work. A child who wets
his bed finds himself swimming in the ocean in a dream. Is
he not actually swimming in his own urine? Or someone who
eats the eyes of a he-goat, dreams that he is being pursued
by a he-goat. One would think the relationship is
established.
That is not to say that God does not speak to people in
dreams and visions (the terms are used synonymously by
scholars, such as Riffel in his book cited above). The
conclusion one can deduce from the foregoing is that dreams,
visions, feelings, and premonitions are not always reliable and
predictable. That notwithstanding, this writer is sometimes
amazed by the accurate interpretation of dreams by some
talented dream interpreters, in a way reminiscent of the biblical
Joseph son of Jacob and Daniel the Prophet. O'Doherty
(nd:40) would say, however, that one must beware of
schizophrenia, as well as visionary and auditory hallucinations.
The classic symptoms are, according to O'Doherty, loss of
identity ('depersonalization 1 - a person may now see
himself/herself as a prophet/prophetess, for example); loss of a
sense of reality (living
in
a world of fantasy); and
hearing voices.
The essence, a prophet/prophetess who can lead
people to do God's will rather than insisting on their own
desire, does not have to be miraculous in nature or
appearance. It is sufficient if she/he has enough grace to
tell people what promotes divine and human values in the
people's actions and in actions and what is contrary to God's
will.
Conclusion
One has some idea of what a Christian prophet
should be like. He should be a spokesperson for God, call
sinners to repentance, and witness with one's daily life,
rather than being a fortune and future teller and diviner as
such. With reference to the Church and her prophetic
mission, Ehusani (1996:6) notes with particular reference
to the Catholic Church, that although there are various
societies, such as Legion of Mary and St. Vincent de Paul,
and commissions, such as Justice, Peace, and
Development Commission, which take care of the less
privileges, the oppressed, and the marginalized in society,
and even though these efforts are highly commendable,
they are equivalent to providing succour for the oppressed,
while letting the oppressor go free to continue his or her
exploits. One can also share his opinion that the Nigerian
Church cannot be said to have don e much that will amount
to any form of confrontation with the unjust and inhuman
regimes that have plagued Nigeria the greater part of her
history.
Definitely, there are other Nigerians who feel that the
Church should do more to be God's effective mouthpiece,
prophets. Anthony Ekwunife (1995:113), for instance,
opines that the Bishops' Conference asking Catholics in
their communique, to pray intermittently "for Nigeria in
distress", is not enough, rather he reminds the Church that
heaven helps those who help themselves .
Likewise, Chukwudum Okolo (1996:21), after
observing that the Churcln in Nigeria is yet to measure up to
expectation, maintains that "we can oily hope that the
Church in Nigeria will not go down irn history as a giant
with feet of clay, one whose solitary boast i s her present
vocation boom and the number of her ecclesiastical
provinces.
There is hardly any reason to doubt that the
situation is the same in many countries; of the world. One
possible explanation, according to H, J.Bchultz (1967:34),
is that:
Our way of thinking is still shot
through with the Greek habit of
splitting reality, with a dualism
between God and world, body
and soul, heaven and earth, up
above a n d down below.
Almost unconsciously we have
fallen victim to a crypto-platonism.
Our denials notwithstanding,
we cling to a metaphysical
currency that has ceased to be
valid.
This writer is aware that some Nigerian Bishops are
making efforts to ensure that the Church is not leftbehind in championing the cause of the oppressed in a
prophetic fashion. One only hope that many more people
will see and embrace the positive signs of the times and
commit themselves to the altruistic struggle for justice,
radically and courageously in a prophetic way. But in a
situation where evangelists, pastors, bishops and Churches
are said to be seeking huge amounts of money to build
edifices in the name of Jesus Christ, preaching against
corruption or confronting oppression, exploitation and
injustice, as the prophets of old did, appear unreasonable,
incompatible and hypocritical.
R
EFERENCES
Bergant, D., "Prophecy, in Komonchak, J. A., Collins, M.
and Lane, D. XV eds. (1996), The New
Dictionary of Theology. Theological Publications in
India, Bangalore.
Daily Sketch. "How CeleProphetess Burnt My Fingers",
Friday, March, 1, 1 996.
Ehusani, G. O., (1995), A Prophetic Church. Provincial
Pastoral Institute Publications, Ede.
Ekwumife, A. N. O (1995), Spiritual Explosions: Reflections
on Christian Lives and Practices in Nigerian
Context, Spiritan Publications, Enugu.
Gbonigi, E. B., in "Special Interview" with Owolabi, Y., in
Tell (Magazine) No. 21, May 25, 1998.
Gifford, P., (199O), Christianity: To Save or Enslave.
Institute of Pastoral Affairs (of the Kaduna
Ecclesiastical Province), Jos.
Godwin, R., (1997), Exposing Witchcraft in the Church.
Joint Heirs Publications Nig. Ltd., Benin City.
Mbefo, L. N., (1997). The Liturgical Year in Action.
Spiritan Publications, Onitsha.
McBrien, R. P., (1994),Catholicism. Harper San Francisco.
Mckenzie, J. L., (1978), Dictionary of the Bible. Geoffrey
Chapman, London.
O'Doherty, E. F. (no publication date), Helping the Disturbed
Religious, St. Paul Publications, Bombay.
Okolo, C., (1996), The Nigerian Catholic Theologian: A
Definition. Optimal Computer Solutions Ltd., Enugu.
Riffel, H. H., (1978), Voice of God: The Significance of Dreams.
Visions. Revelations, Tyndale House Publisher, Inc.,
Illinois.
Schultz, H. J., (1967), Conversion to the World. SCM Press
Ltd., London.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church. (1994), Paulines
Publications -Africa, Nairobi.
The Leader: Vol. XLI No. 1. "Pastor in Police Net Over Ritual
Murder", January 24, 1999.